2020 Customer Experience Trends Your Clients Are Wishing For Today
Customer experience (CX) is the heart of your business, its engine, its lifeblood. Yet when a customer considers buying this or that product, they don’t really care about the mechanics of customer experience. The customer expects and wishes for things like great service and functionality. It’s up to the business to predict and cater to those wishes.
Ask a customer what exactly they want, and they’ll say something like “convenient and safe online shopping,” much like they’d expect a “convenient and safe SUV”. To a business, however, there should be absolutely no second-guessing when developing a customer experience strategy. All parts of CX should be worked through in minute detail to give that sense of smooth-sailing customer experience.
So what exactly do modern customers want? In 2020, customers want to be stunned, not convinced. Just look at Instagram that now markets with stories or Airbnb that sells experiences. What customers want in 2020 is to be carried away by emotional impact, surprised by niche experiences, totally satisfied with service and support, and have you predict their core needs.
Sounds like magic? Not really! Read on and we’ll provide you with CX research and tools to organize customer wants and wishes into an actionable strategy that will power up your ROI in 2020.
Here’s to erasing the line between your own and your customers’ CX bucket list this year, for good!
1. What customers want: Mobile experience beyond great UI
What it means for business: A lot of businesses think of mobile customer experience as just nice UI on mobile devices. In reality, mobile-first customer experience encompasses several critical factors: the loading speed of your website on mobile devices, the ease of navigation, easy and fast access to site search, and fast access to support.
Why you should be doing it: Have you ever clicked on a website that loaded terribly slow on mobile? Or one where you couldn’t find the right info intuitively? If you’re like 79% of users, you’ll tap ‘return’ and never come back to that site again. Though slow loading is the number one reason for site bounce rates, another issue prospective customers won’t forgive is the lack of mobile customer support. Research shows that about 75% of users ages 18–44 seek support via mobile devices several times a month. An overwhelming 90% of them report an unsatisfactory experience when getting that support on mobile.
How to do it: Take out your phone right now and step into client shoes. Does your site fully load in 3–5 secs or less? Does the main info stand out loud and clear (i.e. Products/Services, Pricing, About Me, Contact, and Search)? Do you have a tool for instant support? Support channels that work great on mobile are social networks and messengers. On the mobile version of your site, provide easy to spot links to messaging apps like FB Business, Twitter, and WhatsApp Business. Make sure to stay logged in to those apps and provide mobile support throughout the workday.
2. What customers want: Voice commerce for a smoother and faster search experience
What it means for business: Voice commerce or v-commerce is a way to find information and shop online using just voice commands on your smartphone or a smart speaker. According to the Voice Shopping Consumer Adoption Report, consumers prefer v-commerce because it’s hands-free (27%), allows multitasking (20%) and is a faster way to get results (18%).
Why you should be doing it: Voice commerce is set to reach $80 billion in just three years — by 2023. Already today, voice search is emerging as an in-demand alternative for busy consumers, with 46% of people finding local businesses via voice search, and 40% of millennials having used voice search before making an online purchase. Voice-search demand peaks around local cafes, restaurants, grocery stores, and food delivery.
How to do it: Voice search SEO should be a priority for every local small business. Voice optimization demands concrete steps such as: improving domain authority; making sure your page is mobile friendly and loads within 3–5 secs; having good local SEO presence for your business and a Google My Business profile. If things like these sound a bit too technical for your team, consider hiring a part-time SEO specialist to build up your web presence with a focus on voice commerce.
3. What customers want: Ultra-personalized e-shopping experiences and services
What it means for business: With the huge market demand and competition, small businesses that thrive are those that have found their golden niche. Finding a niche is more than just coming up with a brilliant idea to sell to a specific target audience. It’s about daily research into the personalized needs of your customers and the best in class channels to cater to those needs.
Why you should be doing it: Do you want to thrive in 2020? How about beating your competitors? Well, there’s some great news to look into right now! 75% of businesses in North America and Europe report positive ROI as a direct result of personalization efforts, according to an important study by Monetate. If you’re in retail, you’re even luckier.
How to do it: Once upon a time, personalization started with addressing customers by first names or company names instead of a generic greeting. 2020 customer experience is about segmenting your audience into groups by age, industry, family situation, life needs, etc. Ask yourself — what difficulties does a person of this age, job, and at this point in their life face, that your product/service will help solve? Personalize your email marketing, social media outreach, website, and even AI assistants accordingly.
4. What customers want: Omnichannel support that fits everyone
What it means for business: Omnichannel customer experience is like a giant tree growing out more branches by the year. In 2020, customer experience channels for sales, support, and marketing include AI-powered chatbots, social network business messaging, live support, click-to-call, and callback web widgets, call centers, and self-help areas such as FAQ.
Why you should be doing it: 2020 customer experience research shows that millennial shopping in the USA accounts for about 30% of total sales. All of these millennials are after fast, omnichannel customer experience. Making more than 54% of their purchases online, millennials prefer non-verbal digital communication with a business such as chat and messaging. Moreover, with Gen Z fast entering the workforce in the coming years, online business is predicted to move even further into the digital realm.
How to do it: Great omnichannel support isn’t limited to the needs of one age category or demographic. Focus on the needs of your main customers, but don’t neglect those of others. The best way is to provide several communication channels including a no-coding chatbot assistant like MobileMonkey to automate simple FAQ, messaging to/from your business number via a business app like WhatsApp Business + MightyCall VoIP for quick fixes, and live phone support for tricky customer issues.
5. What customers want: Experiential video marketing experiences
What it means for business: 2020 marketing is all about the ‘why’ of customer experience. While YT video marketing has been around for a long while and tells about the product/service and its features with various degrees of conviction, experiential video marketing is different. Experiential video marketing is about the experience your customer will have from using the product. It’s not about the ‘what’, it’s about the ‘why’ customers should fall in love with your brand.
Why you should be doing it: Modern consumers want to be surprised and carried away by your product — the one and only among everything else they’ve seen, read, and scrolled through that day. Experiential marketing is exactly what “hooks” your audience on an emotional, subconscious level.
How to do it: Explore the emotions behind using your product. How will that experience feel like? How will it make your customer’s life better? Will it look cool/useful/unique enough to brag about on Instagram? In the age of increased privacy, make the most out of the 8–10 seconds of video time by connecting to your audience on an emotional, not rational level. In your video, demonstrate how your product/service will make someone’s day and keep in mind that reward, altruism, and pride are still some of the best ‘marketers’ out there.
6. What customers want: Having the business predict their wants and needs
What it means for business: Every second that you spend with a digital device in hand, you’re creating data. Lots and lots of data. Every second that your customer spends interacting with your business via the website, email marketing, social network, or phone conversation is data. Data that lets you step into the mind of your customer (now, who wouldn’t want that). Making sense of that data to predict customer needs is called data-driven analytics. Or, to a customer, just plain magic.
Why you should be doing it: Big data sounds kind of scary for small business, but in fact, it’s incredibly easy to put it to work (and yes, you do have lots of data to work with!) Double your small business ROI in 2020 with a solution as simple as business phone system analytics and cost-effective CRM.
How to do it: If you’re a small business working from a home office and think you have no time or money to invest in CRM platforms like Salesforce, you can analyze your customers’ needs with a CRM and VoIP phone system like MightyCall. MightyCall boosts customer experience with built-in mini CRM that lets you save and sync business contacts, add notes to track and remember customer requests and information, a call recorder to analyze customer service and customer experience. You get analytics for all business communications (phone, web widgets like Click to Call and Callback, connected social media) in one place — your MightyCall profile.
7. What customers want: An upfront statement on privacy and cybersecurity
What it means for business: Customer experience research shows that 41% of small business owners have the erroneous view that cyberattacks are a threat to big companies, but not their small business. Meanwhile, 60% of cyberattacks target specifically SMBs, according to the Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report. Small businesses, especially those in eCommerce, are an easy target for scammers.
Why you should be doing it: Cybersecurity is one of the top concerns for 2020 consumers and online shoppers as the world of IoT leaves important privacy gaps still open. The willingness to give your consumers an ultra-safe experience shows your customers that you care for their safety as much as they do, and puts it out there that your brand can be trusted.
How to do it: Cybersecurity includes the protection and encryption of online payments, sensitive customer and business data, among others. A good way to protect your business is to organize a secure Cloud structure for storing sensitive data, instead of using company servers that can be easily hacked. Other cybersecurity protection measures include anti-ransomware services like CryptoStopper and moving your entire website to SSL/TSL certificates (https instead of http) if you haven’t done so already. In either case, consult a cybersecurity professional to make sure there’s not a single vulnerability your business has.
8. What customers want: To support socially responsible businesses
What it means for business: For customers, shopping isn’t all about the savings. Customer experience stats show that most customers are happy to pay more just for a smooth shopping experience. On top of that, 2020 customers want to support those businesses that put quality, service, and social responsibility upfront. Businesses that are out to bluntly sell will not have much of an impact or success story to share in the new decade.
Why you should be doing it: Consider brands like Apple and IKEA. What do they have in common? While one is a premium seller and the other a budget-priced brand, both have built a reputation for trustworthiness and quality in their price range. The lesson for small business here is vital: it doesn’t matter if your audience is stay-at-home moms or tough businessmen. Prioritize your focus on quality in every price range and communicate that to your audience.
How to do it: Always hold brand credibility and social responsibility above monetization. When your customers contact you for support or asking about product features, never give evasive answers. If the product is not a fit for the customer, don’t lead them on to buy and come off dissatisfied with your brand. Instead, be honest and in the privacy of your office, consider if you should provide a product/service for that user category. Last but not least, if you’re a growing business, consider supporting a worthy cause or charity. This is a great way to show your clients that you’re a socially responsible company that cares for the legacy it’s creating.
Treat yourself and your customers to a special gift we’ve bundled up for you this year! Personalize your brand with the MightyCall virtual phone system which will help you do business from any place and provide the service your customers will love. Port in your business number or get a new toll-free, vanity, or local number, plus features hand-picked for small business. Find out about our products and pricing below or learn more about VoIP.
